NEW houses will have to be built across Britain’s countryside to provide homes for a mass influx of immigrants, an MP has warned.

Britain’s countryside is at risk from a housing boom to home immigrants from EU []

Tory backbencher Philip Hollobone used a Commons debate to raise concerns about a fresh surge of newcomers when border controls for Romanians and Bulgarians are relaxed next year.

He estimated that around 270,000 people will head to Britain from the two new European Union countries in the two years from the border shake-up scheduled for next December.

And he savaged the Home Office for failing to prepare for the potential threat to law and order and social cohesion from the looming influx.

“The British people won’t put up with this for much longer,” the MP said.

“I know through my humble experience as a special constable with the British Transport Police on London’s Underground network that some eight out of 10 shoplifters arrested by the police are from Eastern Europe.

The British people won’t put up with this for much longer

Tory backbencher Philip Hollobone

“Can they be sent back to their country of origin for breaking our laws? No, they can’t.”

Mr Hollobone raised his concerns about the end of temporary restrictions on immigration controls from Bulgaria and Romania in a debate in Parliament’s Westminster Hall annex.

He pointed out that 43 per cent of new homes under construction were already likely accounted for as a result of population growth spurred by immigration.

“What we are going to see is swathes of our countryside built over to accommodate the millions of new arrivals from the European Union, over which we seemingly have little control,” the MP said.

“The fact is – and I am critical of the last government’s immigration policies – we allowed the population of this country to expand dramatically.

“The population of England has gone up by two million in the last 10 years. These people now live here and they need homes just like other British people.”

Mr Hollobone said that the level of immigration into the UK was one of the biggest concerns among voters in his Kettering constituency.

“The numbers are getting completely out of hand,” he told MPs.

“My constituents will be horrified to learn that from next December yet another hole in Britain’s border controls will be opened up with the prospect of unlimited immigration from Romania and Bulgaria.”

Mr Hollobone cited official statistics showing that 1.4 million foreign citizens from other EU countries were living in the UK by the middle of this year. “It’s bad enough to open our borders to all and sundry, but it adds insult and injury to not even give the British people an estimate of how many we can expect.”

He added: “I believe that if they were ever given the right to vote on whether we should stay a member of the European Union or not they would now vote to leave because Britain would be better off out of the European Union and we could have control over our borders once again.”

Martin Vickers, Tory MP for Cleethorpes, said: “One of the first duties of Government is to maintain that social cohesion.”

And Mark Field, Tory MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, said his constituency had suffered a surge in begging, smuggling, rough sleeping and anti-social behaviour due to a surge in Eastern European migrants.

“I remain unconvinced that the Home Office has robust enough plans to tackle the problems,” he said.